Sorsby, Amy: Diversity

Martin Luther King was one of the few men in this ‘free’ country who stood up for what he believed in, but his only problem was he was in the 1960s and also – a Black man. African Americans were being pushed to their limit by the government by not being able to vote and being slaves to White Americans. It took a few African-American leaders to stand up and defend them all. Even some children stood up because King inspired them. That’s what he did by writing “Letter From Birmingham Jail.”

            MLK uses more than one example and supports each statement with appropriate use of his own knowledge. They said that his strike was “unwise and untimely” and he begins the letter with sarcasm stating that he knows they are good, genuine men. Then he argued that human rights must come before unjust laws. He defended the impatience of civil rights protestors, as well as their use of civil disobedience in order to force the community to acknowledge and to respond to serious problems that were happening in Birmingham. He stated, "Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension, that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue."

            MLK also argued that the laws were unjust. He said that they were morally unjust because the Bible talks about unjust acts and segregation is definitely unjust. After, he argued that segregation was unjust because unjust laws do not follow democratic process and Blacks couldn’t vote therefore it was not a democracy. He stands between two extremes of Black action. He isn’t sitting there and letting it all happen, but he does not hate the White man. He warns that without his nonviolent movement, the extreme of Blacks hating Whites will win out and cause more violence.

           

He expresses his disappointment with the church because they are not even trying to do anything about the situation. The church altogether had no impact on society anymore, but he had faith in some of the members of the churches because they had come to him individually.  

             

African Americans were pushed to the limit. They all were either fed up and striking against the White man or too scared to say what they felt. America should never make someone feel like they should be too scared to state their opinion. That’s the background on why he wrote his letter to the council; he could not resist any longer without saying anything and he thought that everyone else should too.